moonslav59

...and deep down on the prospect list, too. I know the 26th and 40th slots on the rosters usually are not super impactful, but I find it very interesting how the choices are made on the "odd men out."

If you guys could get a legit leadoff hitter with a .380+ OBP, batting Soto & Judge 2-3 would be lethal. (Torres came closest, last year, at .347.)

Why not?

2Bmen mentioned as possible trade targets: Kim from SD, who will be costly. Polanco from MN, who has MI depth.

We could both be wrong. DHam could end up the best prospect below #20.

Adding 3 OF'ers sure addressed that big need area, quickly.

Many times, yes. He did offer Nate more than TEX and on Eflin, I guess about the same as TBR. Many felt he guessed the Yoshida market wrongly. Most of his signings involved $10M/1 or less, an area he was supposed to be an expert.

I wish I felt like I was joshing.

I like some after 27 more than DHam at 21, but I can see your point.

Well, people keep filling the seats and paying for NESN. We may not be back to pre-COVID levels, but with higher ticket and cable costs, the money is still flowing in: win or lose. Yes, they must think we are dumm.

Anywhere from 20-39 looks okay to me. They all are pretty interchangeable in that group.

Yes. It's all part of the sham. Throw him under the bus, and try to convince fans a brighter horizon looms with Brez.

Exactly. Why have Brez spending a lot of time pursuing Yamo, if JH will just say no, at the end?

Agreed, and I'm sure Brez has identified some prospects he values less than Bloom did. We should see a further shuffle. He basically swapped out Drohan for Fitts and Fernandez for Slaten, plus added the two other arms in the Yankee trade. I think he's going to trade Mayer or 2-3 mid tier guys like Wikelman, Yorke, Rafaela and Miedroth.

MLBTR on the Sox, the rotation, OF, 2B and Turner... https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/12/red-sox-trade-rumors-second-base-rotation-yamamoto-severino.html

I'm with you. The idea scares the hell out of me. BTW, when we traded for Pedro, I think he had one year left before free agency. We extended him to a 7 year deal a month after trading 2 top pitching prospects for him. I think the Schilling trade included an extension, but I could be wrong. The Beckett trade was for multiple years of Beckett, and we ended up extending him, too. We traded Lester & Gomes (not prospects) for one year Cespedes, who we flipped for 1 year of Porcello, and then we extended him.

Indeed. I'm not sure how much longer the fans will tolerate this sham. Obviously, some teams feel they can make enough money without winning or even giving the impression they are trying to win or are building to win in X amount of years, but with Boston, it seems like so much more money can be made by spending some more. I'm not buying the schtick, anymore. I need to see the change, before I fall for the sham, another year. What Brez is saying sounds great, but so did what everyone was saying the last few years.

They seem to be patient with losing and not seriously trying to change that.

It would be easy for them to just put Fitts in Drohan's slot at #15 and Slaten in the 31 slot, formerly held by R Fernandez. It seems about right, as well.

Hasn't that been Bloom's quandary over the last 3 years? Bloom never traded a higher prospect than Aldo Ramirez for Schwarber. When you look at 2018-2020, none were traded then. either. That's about 6 years with the highest prospects traded being ARamirez and Beeks. I think we have waited long enough. I love the idea of building up the farm, but the farm can help via trades, too.

Yes. I've read there are concerns about Bieber's need for surgery. I'm fine with saying Glasnow is interesting and rishy. I'd love to see us trade for Castillo. I think he has 4 years of control.

MLB Pipeline, supposedly paced Fitts at #10 in the Sox rankings, but who knows? I wonder where Slater fits in. I might put Fitts in Drohan's #15 slot. Maybe Slater slots at #20, ahead of DHam, or somewhere mixed in with all the pitching prospects listed between 23 and 39. Maybe he takes Fernandez's #31 slot.

I have to say, Brez seems more believable, but I'll believe it when I see it.

I don't think the percent is 99%, but I do agree: we need to extend Burnes to make any trade for him worth it. Bieber is too risky. Glasnow looks interesting. It looks like the asking price for Cease is too much, but he does have 2 years. I don't see SEA trading Gilbert. I do wonder, if they are looking at budget issues, why not trade Castillo?

I hope this is not all just talk... Red Sox wrap up 2023 Winter Meetings WWW.MLB.COM NASHVILLE -- Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow spent these Winter Meetings in hot pursuit of starting pitching. He leaves with that pursuit still on the front burner. At some point, the pitching market will move, and when it does, Breslow will be ready to pounce. “In a perfect Brez: “In a perfect world, we're walking out of here with starting pitching and we feel really good about that. We've tried to advance the ball as much as possible,” Breslow said. “We're probably not alone in being a little bit disappointed on that front. But obviously we were able to make the trade yesterday, get back three arms that we can add to the organization. And we remain active in all paths so my hope is things start to shake free here shortly, but we can only control what we can control.” “I think we have a little bit better clarity in terms of who may be the right fits for us and what the timelines may look like. And the only thing that we can do is remain engaged, remain active and understand where the markets are going and let our interests be known,” Breslow said. “Players and agents are incentivized by a host of reasons to determine their own timelines. I think the most important thing that we can do as I've kind of maintained all along is identify the players that we think are really good fits and be aggressive in pursuing them.”